Senator wants Trillanes expelled from Senate

MANILA, Philippines -- Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is preparing to ask the Senate to reprimand or even expel Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for leading a siege on a hotel in the Makati business district Thursday.

In a resolution that she plans to submit for action on Monday, Santiago said: “The Senate committee on ethics and privileges should meet immediately and recommend the proper punishment for Senator Trillanes for disorderly behavior and unparliamentary acts and language, including, if necessary, his suspension or expulsion from the Senate.”

The ethics committee is chaired by Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Santiago said she believed that Trillanes’ acts on Thursday had been planned: “He participated in the reading of a prepared seditious statement calling not only for the President to resign, but also for the public, in effect, to compel her to leave office.”

The Senate’s rules allow punishment of any of its members for disorderly behavior upon the recommendation of the ethics committee, as long as this is concurred in by two-thirds of the members of the chamber, said Santiago, a staunch ally of President Gloria Macaagal-Arroyo, whom she is joining in a trip to London and Spain this Saturday night.

But she conceded that penalizing Trillanes would be difficult, considering that his oppositionist allies accounted for the majority in the Senate.

Before Thursday, Trillanes had been in detention on a coup d’état charge for his role in a 2003 military mutiny. He has yet to attend a session at the Senate since his election last May.

Premature

Sen. Pia Cayetano said that while her committee was bound to act on Santiago’s resolution, any Senate action on Trillanes would be “premature” because his cases were still pending in court.

She cited the case of former congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who was expelled from the House of Representatives only after the Supreme Court had upheld his conviction for rape.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. concurred with Cayetano, saying: “Trillanes is innocent of the crimes until he is convicted. He has to be convicted first before he is punished. He should not be prejudged before he is convicted.”

Senate President Manuel Villar said his position was that the chamber should tread carefully in disciplining one of its own.

He said he doubted whether Trillanes could be expelled, especially with the opposition in control of the Senate.

Send a clear message

Whether the Senate reprimands, suspends or expels Trillanes, Santiago said it was important that the Senate would send a clear message to the public that it was not tolerating crimes committed by a senator.

She said some opposition senators who were also lawyers like herself were most likely as “annoyed and offended” by Trillanes’ actions.

“Nagdudunung-dunungan kasi’ [He’s trying to look intelligent]. He is interpreting the Constitution as a layman, which should not be because you need four years to have the skill to interpret it,” she said.

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